Late in tournament against top pro

[Chuck]

Situation is this: Money bubble has burst at 45. Payouts are fairly flat from 45-35 being same, 35-25 same payout and only 25% more than prior, 25-15 same payout and a 20% bump. 15 up is incrementally better with largest pay jumps at 4-3-2-1. Payouts at top three divide about 55% of prize pool. We are at 4 tables. Villain is a well known pro – over 5 million in live earnings scattered over 75 events. Much more online earnings prior to Black Friday. He is well established. Chip average is at 225k. We both sit with 300k. Blinds are 3k small, 6k big who also pays a 6k ante. I am on the button, villain to my right who opens the pot to 18k (note this has been his standard open – table open was typically 15k). I make the call. (Next note – we have only butted heads once prior to this hand approximately two-three orbits earlier. He had opened with a3x bet and I re-raised his bet 2.5x, he folded). Flop is Kc Kd and 2h. Continuation bet of 26K and I call. Turn is 2s. Check-check (both after long pauses). River is a Qh. Bet of 35k.

My questions are

What range of hands does he put me on?

What is his range of hands here?

Is this a value bet or a bluff?

I am interested in people’s honest opinion about this. I would consider this opponent to be a top player and am wanting all feedback. This is the only way to learn and improve my game in my opinion. I will reveal the hands after some feedback or if you want to private message me be glad to share before making it public. The way the hand plays, I think it’s an easier dissection knowing the cards. I am interested in the above questions. Thanks in advance.

[David Wibel]

Situation, 50BB effective in the money. The goal now is to acquire the largest number of chips while preserving a stack that allows to raise fold if need be to short stacks or be able to maneuver post flop.

The cutoff and button ranges here should be fairly wide expecting a steal attempt from villain fairly often depending on the stacks of the blinds. I would actually guess your call range to be smaller than villains raising range since I think a steal is a distinct possibility.

Now some of your questions are hard to answer without knowing the actual hands at play here so I’m going to have to use some big generalities here.

1: What range of hands does villain put hero on?
A: There are a lot of Ax that I think hero has. A2s-AJs, A2o-A5o, ATo, AJo, I don’t expect an off suite Ace between 6 and 9 but depending on your image maybe. Small to mid pairs, 22-88, maybe 99 but I expect TT+ to raise for sure. Most of the suited connectors that you could have don’t make sense in calling a C bet and not barreling turn as a pure bluff since the board is full rainbow with no straights. Baybe exactly QJs or JTs with the backdoor opportunities but nothing else. There is an off chance of a K or a 2 on your end, but with 2 of each on board and no re-raise pre-flop there just aren’t many left.

2: What are his range of hands here?
A: Also wide. He could have a good amount of Kx and Qx but I think there are a lot of bluff opportunities with the board so dry it’s hard for you to be happy with a hand, especially with another high card out there. There are some number of Ax that wants to get you off a chop but a decent amount of the time he is playing the board.

3: Is this a value bet or bluff?
A: Impossible to say without knowing the hand villain has. I think he has a lot of bluff opportunities to try and get you off Ax and small pairs but he could be nutted as well. With a ~33% pot bet you only need to be right 1/4 of the time.

[William Arrington]

Your on the button and everything folded the the villan. Your range his huge and so is his. Without seeing multiple hands at the table its really hard to tell. How many hands are you playing per orbit. Are you leading out or playing passive. All of this matters. From what you have wrote he seems like a LAG and you may have a TAG image which is why he bet into you. On the cutoff… its easier to say what you 2 both dont have vs your range. You dont have 76o-23o. Thats about it for unplayable here. Because of the folds.. this hand actually plays 1v1. The check on the turn shows that neither of you have a King. You can also say he doesnt think you have and Q or a 2 or any flush draw because the flop killed that. Your likly cards are AJ or A10 with the most likly being J10 for an OESD.

Iam guessing its a bluff because he thinks you have a busted draw and he is holding an A.

[Author]

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